I am a YouTube junkie. It’s always on my TV. The algorithm for YouTube takes me in many directions but what it introduced to me recently made me want to vomit. I wish I was joking but I think you might feel the same after you learn what I wish I could unlearn.
As if what is happening in the world is not upsetting enough, the information that Youtuber Therese[1] shared shocked me. Not because I did not believe her, nor because it was not a phenomenon of which I was unaware, but because it confirmed that the history of patriarchal oppression of women is deeply entrenched into the framework of the United States and even the Church. That may feel like a “Duh” statement, and I am sure anyone reading this is wondering why I am even writing right now, but the depth to which women have been oppressed and suppressed is astonishing.
As a current Ph.D. student, and an older returning student with many of life’s issues working against me, the sense of accomplishment I feel sitting in the classroom, challenging classmates and professors, being challenged by classmates and professors, and delving deeply into advanced coursework focused on biblical interpretation and Christian ethics, is beyond compare. I am proud of all that I am doing as a single woman. I am proud of doing this on my own. I am proud of how God has empowered me to remain resilient and intentional. And when I say that I am proud, I say that I am proud of my accomplishments even though I am fully aware that Christians are not supposed to claim pride of any kind.
Nevertheless, I am a proud Ph.D. student. A student who will one day (soon) walk across the commencement stage to receive the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Theology. Every sleepless night that I spend reading, researching, writing, citing, erasing, and rewriting, then second guessing myself again and again will be rewarded with a degree that I earned because I am an intelligent woman who worked hard for herself to achieve this academic reward and entry into the academy. A woman who answered the call to extend womanist thought and contribution to the world of Christian scholarship.
I am a proud Ph.D. student. One day, (soon) without any hesitation or compromise, people will refer to me as Dr. Kim Gunter because I will have earned this degree for my own work and accomplishments. My Ph.D. will be printed on the same paper as that of my fellow (and I mean fellow here) classmates. My Ph.D. will not be a lesser degree. It will not be an also ran degree. It will not be a Ph.T.[2]
You did not read that wrong. Let me say it again: my Ph.D. will not be a Ph.T.
Featured photo courtesy Cora Harrington at https://magazine.wsu.edu/2020/10/31/we-put-them-through/.
What, pray tell, is a Ph.T.? Well, there are several things that come up when you search PhT or PHT. I am not referencing the pharmacy technology certification or the like. I applaud everyone who obtains this degree. In fact, I also applaud those who obtain Ph.T. degree, too. My reason for writing this is not to demean anyone, that is, any woman who received a Ph.T. from her years of sacrifice. What this post challenges and disparages is the meaning and reason for the conferring of the Ph.T. “degree.”
Ph.T. stands for Putting Hubby/Husband/Him Through. Yes, you read that correctly. This was a certificate that schools awarded wives for supporting their husbands through proper degree programs. These were the established institutions’ way of recognizing the hard work of the wife. In many cases, that hard work was taking care of the house, children and the like, but it also often included typing papers for their husbands. While women were often not welcomed as students in these professional programs, they could, and were expected to, support their husbands in every way possible, including typing papers for their spouses to achieve their degrees.
From my quick research into this era of Ph.T.’s, I surmise that this was not intended to be anything more than a recognition. However, it is an absurd salute to the institution of patriarchy.
You may wonder why I have included this on the WIT blog. Where, you may ask, is theology in this? Well, the system that created the Ph.T. is one that finds its roots in the Christian tradition. It is one that echoes the history of the Christian canon, creeds and other formational writings that are all attributed to church fathers while ancient women were not allowed formal education, were institutionally highly illiterate, and were thus left to the sidelines of theological thought. Women were not allowed to participate in the development of church orthodoxy and were subordinates in every way.
It’s not that women haven’t been involved in the church since the beginning, it is instead that women have been relegated to the support or the “putting him through” role since the beginning. Consider the women who walked with Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. In Luke 8:2-3, the evangelist reports that “Mary, also called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; Joanna, whose husband Chusa was Herod’s administrator; Susanna; and many other women [who] provided financial support for Jesus and his disciples.” These women provided support to the men of the early Jesus movement, but when it came down to being respected as pillars of the movement, these women were left out from among the twelve apostles.
After Jesus is resurrected, at the empty tomb, Luke 24:1-11 further notes that it was to the women who went to the tomb that the report of Jesus’s resurrection was given. It was the women who remembered Jesus’ words of resurrection. It was the women, “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told . . . the apostles” that Jesus had risen. The women were the ones who received the word and accepted the call to proclaim the good news. Yet, it was the women’s report and conviction that was not believed or given the proper credit that it deserved. Sadly, this subordination of women’s hard work, dedication and leadership in the advancement of the Jesus movement did not end with the apostles. It continues.
The Catholic Church vehemently prohibits women from the priesthood, noting that “priestly ordination, which hands on the office entrusted by Christ to his Apostles of teaching, sanctifying and governing the faithful, has in the Catholic Church from the beginning always been reserved to men alone.”[3] Likewise, in the past few weeks, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., the Southern Baptist Convention, is in the process of prohibiting women pastors and preachers in its member churches.[4] Both the Catholic Church and the SBC acknowledge the importance of women in the life of the church. But, both praise women only as fas as their provision of support to the church is subjected under the leadership of decidedly male pastors and priests, and their husbands at home.
This should not be. Ph.T’s are not the answer. Women must be fully appreciated for equal intellect in institutions of higher education and equal call in the Church/church.
[1]. Terese, “White Men Didn’t Win When Affirmative Action Died,” May 24, 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfaJFtrr5o0&t=19s.
[2]. Adriana Janovich, “We put them through,” Washington State Magazine, Winter 2020, https://magazine.wsu.edu/2020/10/31/we-put-them-through/.
[3]. John Paul II, “Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,” The Holy See, May 22, 1994, https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1994/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19940522_ordinatio-sacerdotalis.html.
[4]. Bob Smietana, “Southern Baptists Move Closer to Constitutional Ban on Women Pastors,” Christianity Today, June 11, 2026, https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/06/southern-baptist-constitution-ban-women-pastors/.
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